Memorial with the gang out front.
Model of the terrain with an explanation of the geology.
We are here.
View from the top.
Miles Today: 16.9
Mile Marker: 1,599.1
In a rare occurrence I was the first one out of camp today at 9:00. It was still sprinkling this morning and none of us were in a hurry. I got to the top of Mount Greylock about an hour and a half later. I was milling around and about to head down when a day hiker named Morris flagged me down. He was surprised I wasn't stopping at the lounge and convinced me a cheeseburger was the right choice. It turns out his son hiked in 2008. I stopped and got an early lunch. I texted the group a picture of the menu to encourage them to stop too. Shortly after they showed up and we all had lunch together. As we were wrapping up Wolfe showed up. He made great time catching back up. I think his schedule is more aggressive than mine, so he'll likely pass me soon.
As we were leaving we walked up to the war memorial at the peak. I was bummed it was closed for renovations. However a caretaker came over and opened the place for us. We figured out where the lights were, and we all got to climb to the top and check out the view. It was pretty cool knowing we were probably the only thru hikers of this season who have gotten to go up. It should be open officially in a few more weeks.
After those delays we had a pretty slow day. From Mount Greylock we had a steep descent into the next town crossing, and then a steep climb back out. We were all thinking of eating dinner at the shelter and then hiking a couple of more miles and camping. However we didn't get to the shelter until 7:00, and none of us wanted to go any further.